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Smithville tops Norwayne, tunes up for Northwestern with quad wins

September 8, 2008

By Jim Jicha

Smithville avenged one of their five losses from last season with a 25-14, 27-25, 25-14 straight set win at home over the Bobcats of Creston Norwayne last Tuesday evening. The Smithies finished third in the Wayne County Athletic League last year, behind Norwayne and league champ West Salem Northwestern, thanks to two losses to the Bobcats.

The match on Tuesday was eerily similar to the last time these two teams met, when Norwayne beat the host Smithies 10-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-17, 16-14, which explains why Smithville Coach Heidi Hartzler said afterward “my stomach was nervous”. She added “After the first game I said, 'don’t forget what happened last year'”. 

They almost did.

Smithville never trailed in game one, and led all the way after two ties that came on well placed hits by 5’10” Norwayne middle hitter Leah Gallion. The Smithies broke ahead 5-2 on a tip by setter Jena Hartzler, a kill by junior outside Alyssa Horst and a block from sophomore middle Julie Pollick. 

Scoring went back and forth until Smithie junior middle Jenna Pew sparked a 5-1 run that opened up a 15-9 lead. Pew started off by killing an overpass to end an intense volley. Following a save by libero Leah Martin, outside hitter Bethany Indermuhle hit into a hole, and after a service error, Pew smashed a short set from Hartzler for a straight down kill, served an ace and hit a blast from back court that was dug into the ceiling. 

The Bobcats couldn’t sustain anything, and after an ace by setter Mollie Hanzie cut the lead to 20-14, Pew ignited a rally to the finish with two kills and a block. An ace by outside Kendra Workman ended the game. 

Led by Horst, the Smithies got off to a 6-2 start in set two, but errors and a block by 5’11” Bobcat senior middle Bethany Grimes left things tied. And after a kill by Pew, senior outside Courtney Kent put Norwayne on top with a kill and a block of Horst. Indermuhle retied it, but Kent spiked another kill. Following another tie at 9, Bobcat sophomore outside Abby Hanzie spiked a hit off the block that was lifted, and 5’10” middle Kayla Wilson served an ace, and Norwayne led 11-9. 

Smithie outside Alex Leister terminated a smash down the left that sparked a 10-4 run, led by Pew who recorded five kills and two aces. That put the Smithies up 19-15, but Wilson hit into a hole for Norwayne, and after four hitting errors by Smithville, the lead was down to 21-20. The Smithies scored two but Norwayne came back to 23-22, and the Bobcats tied at 24 on a cross court kill by Gallion and a Smithie miscue.

Great net play by Norwayne was, however, undone by a hitting error, and the teams then traded errors before Pew demolished a Hartzler short set to end the game. 

The final set was easier on the home crowd as Leister, Pew and Horst scored three kills to start and the Smithies raced to an 8-1 lead. Norwayne narrowed to 11-6 helped by an ace from Janette Calame. Smithville then padded the margin to 15-7. 

Wilson spiked a kill and served an ace to fuel a five point Bobcat rally, and the teams traded points. But that proved to be the end for Norwayne as Leister smoked a Hartzler back set, starting a six point Smithie run led by Pew and Horst, and an ace from Leister. 

Following a service error, Hartzler scored on a play at the net and Pew tipped into a hole. Pew then rejected a Norwayne spike and demolished the ensuing overpass for match point. 

Smithville (9-0) is ranked fourth on the first State Coaches Poll. They will host second ranked West Salem Northwestern (10-0) tomorrow night. Smithville tuned up for this match with quad wins last weekend over Chagrin Falls, Villa Angela-St. Joseph and Independence. 

Northwestern, meanwhile, looked very impressive in winning the Norwalk Invite on August 30. They beat 7-1 Perkins, Amherst Steele and Elyria Catholic. Nobody could stop the Huskies’ Cleveland State bound outside hitter Kara Koch, according to a rival coach from that tournament. The score with Steele was 25-19, 25-22, and the Huskies held the other two teams to a grand total of 44 points. 

Amherst’s other defeats came at the hands of Division I powers, by the way. The Comets fell to #7 Magnificat 22-25, 25-20, 22-25, 22-25 in the season opener for both, and they took second ranked Olmsted Falls to five last week.